Kirk
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
‘My family didn’t understand why my life was the way it was, like I was pretty much drooling on the floor of the house.’
Kirk is in his 40s and has schizoaffective disorder. He also lives with post-traumatic stress disorder, having been sexually assaulted when he was younger.
Kirk told the Royal Commission he is overmedicated and his family struggles to understand his behaviour.
‘They don't understand because, to them, they don’t have the condition. They don’t know how it affects you. They don’t always understand why you aren’t socially as, you know, like when you are younger … and then they can’t understand why your social existence has become pretty much non-existent.’
Kirk said the medication ‘takes a lot of toll on [his] body’ and he struggles ‘to maintain a certain level of, you know, just social function’.
Kirk lives independently, occasionally being admitted to mental health facilities for several weeks at a time. During one admission, Kirk asked if he could take his medication as a tablet, rather than an injection.
‘They said, “You don't always get what you want” … [The nurse] threw me into the wall. Not on purpose. They just shoved me in the back and then that didn’t resolve well. So, I got squashed on the bed and then they give me the needle.’
Kirk said people living with disability should be given a choice of treatments if they’re available.
‘As a patient, you actually have the right in the choice of what medication you take, and if they just wilfully choose what medication you take without giving you that advice, then that's also a breach of a right.’
Kirk said he saw other patients forced into treatments that seemed excessive.
‘I watched a 74-year-old woman in hospital who has had a high state of anxiety … because the situation was she was feeling insecure.’
Kirk said she was given ‘electroshock therapy’.
‘I don't feel 74-year-olds really need shock therapy … I said to them, “If you actually took her out and made her feel secure in her situation by giving her one-on-one support care, so you’re giving her someone in the morning to have a cup of tea, or something in the afternoon that made her feel secure in her situation, she might actually progress to not actually feeling someone is going to break into her house.”’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.